


Unexpected

by Charlie_Grace



Category: British Actor RPF
Genre: F/M, Romance, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-11-13
Updated: 2012-11-13
Packaged: 2017-11-18 14:42:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/562183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Charlie_Grace/pseuds/Charlie_Grace
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Charlie and Tom meet at an office. Sparks fly; but do they understand each other’s intent?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“Can you run down to Generate for a sec? We’re in the front.”

“Yep, on my way down.”

Charlotte made her way down from her 3rd floor office to Generate, which was on the ground floor of her building. When she walked in to the door at Generate, she could see Jake - the owner of her company - standing near the door with Chad, the owner of Generate, and a dirty-blonde, wavy-haired stranger. The stranger’s burning blue eyes flicked up to hers as soon as she came into view. Charlie nodded her head slightly at him in recognition. Jake turned to her and plastered on a fake smile. Nothing new.

“Charlotte, this is Tom Hiddleston. Tom, this is our assistant, Charlie - er, Charlotte.”

“Charlie’s fine,” Charlotte interjected gracefully.

They shook hands, Tom looking dutifully into her eyes as they did so. “Pleased to meet you, Charlie,” he practically cooed.

“Likewise,” she chirped, ready to accommodate him. As the office manager and executive assistant, it was really the thing she was best at and most often called to do - accommodate guests. Especially the important ones. Tom Hiddleston counted as an important one, whether Jake realized it or not. _Those eyes. ___

“Charlie, do you mind taking Tom upstairs to the kitchen and getting him some coffee or something? There’s going to be a little time in between meetings down here and I don’t want him to have to just sit around.”

“Sure, happy to. Is there a specific time you all need to reconvene?”

“Yeah, like 10:30 or so? Do you mind bringing him back down around then?”

Charlie nodded and turned to Tom. “Well, if you’ll follow me…” he did, and once she entered the elevator and turned around to face him, she noticed his eyes slide up her form from the ground as he fully stepped in. He didn’t seem to even realize he’d done it. She remained impassive, professional, though he was making it a bit difficult. He was somewhat sleight in build but definitely attractive in an off-beat sort of way. The fact that he was so obviously checking her out was a little distracting. He stood beside her, his body slightly turned toward her as the elevator slowly made its way up to her floor.

He glanced over at her, brow furrowed. “Are you sure ‘Charlie’ is alright?”

Charlie nodded with a smile.

“Thanks so much for coming to get me.” His voice was a strange marriage of smooth and gravelly, his accent a very well-to-do London one. It was absolutely lovely to hear.

“It’s no trouble at all, Tom. Now, did you want coffee, soda or tea?” she asked as she led him to the kitchen.

“Mmm,” he muttered. “What type of tea have you got?”

“I’ve got a few herbals, and - don’t tell anyone - I’ve a secret personal stash of PG Tips if that suits your fancy a little better. It’s not amazing, but it might do you.” Charlie chuckled.

Tom’s face lit up. “Oh, I’d love a cuppa that, are you sure you don’t mind me stealing from you?” They were in the kitchen now, and Charlie reached into the cupboard and pulled out her box of English Breakfast and brown sugar.

“For a secret, that’s not very well-hidden, now, is it?” he teased. The corners of his ginger-hair-ridden mouth turned up to bare beautifully straight teeth.

“Well enough,” Charlie laughed. “No one else wants English Breakfast anyway. Seems to be all coffee fiends in the ad world.”

He leaned against the counter as he watched her prepare two cups of tea, taking the quiet to admire the creativity of the space around him. Once the cups had been filled with a tea bag and water, she turned back to Tom, slightly apprehensive. She was so not good at small talk. “Do you take milk or sugar?”

“Just one sugar and a dash of milk, please. Thanks so much for doing this, Charlie.”

Charlie didn’t respond. He was staring so intently into her eyes with such interest that it was downright unnerving. However, she managed to meet his gaze with a playful, wordless recognition, a slight lift of her eyebrow; at which Tom’s lips quirked into a smile. The look in his eyes did not change. Instantly regretting her internal response to this she whirled around, took a few steps away from him and then leaned over the breakfast bar to continue the conversation from a safe distance. With a giant, stone object in between them she was sure to be unaffected, right?

His eyes squinted at her, amused. But he did not speak.

“So you’re an actor, correct?” Charlie asked. She wasn’t living in a hole, and he had to realize that.

He nodded, his lips suddenly in a tight line, and instead of his eyes burning into hers he was now watching her face. His tone did not betray him, though. “Yes, some days anyway.” It was accommodating and gracious. Too gracious.

She chuckled, refusing to fall into the trap he seemed to be expecting, however subtly. “Anything fun recently?”

He still watched her, possibly slightly wary - as to whether he changed into “dealing with the public” mode vs his current ease. She didn’t want him to switch. It didn’t matter to her what he did. Her attraction to him, this game, was nothing to do with anything other than what was in front of her at that moment. “At the moment I’m coming off for a bit of a holiday. Thor 2 has wrapped as has the press for it, and I haven’t had much time to myself in the last five or six years.”

“Sounds nice. I hope you don’t have too many more of these business meetings, then!”

He shook his head. “Not after this week, really. I’ve been trying to explore different aspects of the television and film business, so my management actually recommended that I speak with Chad. It was easy enough to make a stop in Minneapolis on my way to LA before I officially began my holiday.”

“Makes sense,” Charlie agreed. “Chad is one of the best in the biz, despite them being a small shop. Worth talking to.” 

She looked at the clock and saw it had been a couple of minutes since she started the tea and so she moved to get the milk from the fridge. She quickly realized he had shifted so he was practically propped up in front of the sugar, leaning with his backside against the counter, the sugar peeking out behind him. Fuck. Instead of awkwardly asking him for it, she prepared the cups without it, and she could feel his eyes on her intently as she moved around the kitchen. Once the bags were in the trash and the milk was in the mugs, she was left with little choice. She glanced up at Tom’s face and took the few steps toward him. “Excuse me,” she said softly. He smiled politely, knowingly, but didn’t shift. Fine. She ever-so-lightly brushed against him to reach around and grab the bag. She was close enough to smell him and though his posture didn’t change to show whether or not he was affected by their closeness (it was his own fault, anyway), his breathing quickened just slightly, falling warm and soft over Charlie’s shoulder and sending a jolt up her spine. As she stepped back she noticed his pale knuckles gripping to the counter behind him. She dared a smile as her gaze reached his. He was visibly fighting a grin. “Just one, you said?” She asked innocently.

He nodded, lips still quirked upwards. She stirred his cup first and held it out to him, a coy grin on her lips. “Careful, it’s really hot.” He smirked as his graceful, slender hands encased hers, making it impossible for her not to allow their fingers to intertwine as she slid hers away and allowed him to hold his tea. She realized she had been WAY too focused on the image of their fingers sliding against each other, and failed miserably at hiding her eyeroll when she realized he was grinning triumphantly, his eyes sparkling as they regarded her.

“Thank you, darling,” He said quietly, earnestly, and took a sip. “This is lovely.”

Charlie caught his eye as she stirred her own cup, her stomach doing a flip at his casual reference to her as “darling,” no matter how usual she knew that was. “My pleasure.”

They chatted amicably for the next half hour, about Tom’s experience in the city, about Charlie’s job at SASS Advertising. About whether she lived in town, and how long he was planning to stay. At 10:20, she offered him a fresh cup of tea to take down to Generate with him and he politely declined, though he indicated that he planned to find her if they let him out of the conference room later, to get another one.

She accompanied him downstairs and as he joined Chad and Jake he shot her a promising glance, his face remaining impassive but his eyes betraying his desire to remain in her company. It was unmistakeable. Wasn’t it? She returned the favor in her own way as she headed back, allowing her hips to swing a little more than usual, her slightly-flared pencil skirt dancing around her knees and heels clicking rhythmically on the tile. She grinned to herself as she stepped into the elevator, finally out of his view. She’d heard how it took Tom a couple of seconds more than expected to answer a question Chad directed his way and knew he had to have been watching her.


	2. Chapter 2

Most of the late morning went off with quite a lot of nothing happening until 12:30 when she was called to order lunch for the three of them. She poked her head in with a menu and mentally noted what each of them wanted. Before she left, she asked what drinks they wanted her to bring with their food. Chad and John went the very obvious “Diet Coke” route (which she had expected), but she saw Tom debating with himself as they spoke and finally he spoke up. “Would you mind, Charlie, making another cup of that wonderful tea?” Charlie smiled at him. “You really do make a cracking cuppa,” he said, almost apologetically.

Charlie nodded and left the room before he distracted her any further. It was not like her to have troubles focusing around guests at work, but it was certainly not often she flirted with them, either. Tom was proving very difficult indeed. She prayed her boss hadn’t noticed. She ordered lunch for them and the moment it arrived, she got a cup brewing for Tom.

When she lugged it all downstairs, practically a circus act the way it was all balanced in her arms, Tom looked up at her through the window. One glance was all it took for him to politely stop Chad from speaking and leap up to help her.

It was just out of sight of the others that he stood very, very close to her, helping gather the lunch bags while she took the drinks. The warmth eminating from his body, his masculine scent was doing far too much to distract her when she had a hot drink in her hands (and a boss ten feet away). And she was just giving him lunch (she had to pull her shit together, and soon). She glanced at him once he had a grip on everything he had relieved her of. The beguiling expression on his face as he watched her made her breath catch in her throat; at that, he allowed his lips to turn up ever so slightly, his blue eyes twinkling with mischief. She forced herself to regain her composure and looked up at him demurely through her lashes. “Thanks,” she breathed.

As they walked into the conference room she said, with a bit more gusto, “I really appreciate the help!”

He looked at her deviously. The game this man was playing. Damn him. ”Oh, my pleasure, Charlie. Thanks so much for this.” The other men chimed in with halfhearted thanks as well, and it did not appear that either Chad or Jake had noticed anything awry. She breathed a sigh of relief as she left the room and returned to her safe little desk. She was sure she would not see him again. If he drank any more tea he’d be pissing for England later. She sighed. She recognized that he likely flirted like he had frequently, but it was still an enticing addition to her day.

Alone at her desk now, she couldn’t help but allow her mind to wander about what she’d have liked to come out of her flirting with Tom. She found her heart racing at the implications and tried very hard just to focus on her work for the time being.

Naturally, just as she got back into the swing of things and her mind off Tom, she heard the elevator doors slam shut and saw a figure coming in through the main doors. Tom. She deliberately took an extra moment to finish what she was typing as he - rather slowly - strode up to her. His eyes were intensely watching her face again. She noticed this even out of the corner of her eye. When she finished typing she slid her gaze up to his and gave him a saucy half-smile. “Come for more tea, then?”

He chuckled quietly. “I can make one myself if you’re busy…and don’t mind me stealing another bag - but I do admit to being partial to your company.” That was the most forward he’d been verbally all day. How was she supposed to deny him that?

“Tom, seriously.” She said as she rose. “Let me make it for you. You should relax.”

“After you,” he said warmly, motioning toward the kitchen, a smile dancing in his eyes.

Yeah, so you can stare at my ass, she thought. When they arrived in the kitchen, she was pleased to see that for the moment, they had it to themselves. It was selfish and presumptuous of her, but it gave her room to continue their little game if he seemed up for it. She reached for a new mug, a teabag and filled it up with water.

He noticed she was only making the one and looked at her questioningly. “None for you?”

Charlie shook her head and waved her hand dismissively. “Nah, I’ve just grabbed a pop.”

He coughed forcefully and pounded his chest with his fist. “You’ve…you…what?” His eyes were nearly bugged out of his head but still somewhat enticed and Charlie gave herself an extra point for throwing him off without even meaning to, though she now understood the context in which he took her words.

Calmly, evenly, she quirked her brow, looked at him and clarified, “a soda.” He looked at her in disbelief and she couldn’t help but burst into laughter. Soon Tom was laughing alongside her.

“Do you seriously call soda ‘pop?’”

“Yup. You’ve never been to Minnesota, have you?”

His eyes were bright as he watched her look at the clock, and then he let out a slight hum which got her attention. She hadn’t realized that they were only about a step away from each other. She peered up at him to see him smiling down at her quizically. “Come to dinner with me tonight, Charlotte.” he said softly.

Charlie blinked twice, dumbly. Did…what? With a blessedly speedy recovery (for her, anyway), she shot him a shy half-smile and nodded. “I’d like that.”

He gave her a full-on grin then. “Lovely,” he said, still softly. “I’ll be here until half-five. Can I come and collect you then?”

He’d gone back downstairs for the last half of his marathon meeting with Chad and Jake and the Generate team then, with the promise of meeting Charlie at her desk at 5:30. She was thankful she was fairly well-dressed for dinner though she’d have preferred to go home and freshen up, cliche as that idea was. Still, she had not expected his invitation and would fly with it even if he had asked her while she was glued into her pajamas.

He arrived at 5:34, apologizing profusely for his tardiness. Charlie hadn’t even realized the time until he walked in the door. He had put a stylish leather jacket on over his blue tee shirt and looked particularly badass now that the reddish brown hairs on his face were growing into a sexy 5:00 shadow around the trimmed hair at his mouth.

“Ready?” He asked. Charlie nodded, grabbed her purse and followed him out the door. She got to stare at his ass for once, and though he was not a largely built man, it was well-shaped and extremely alluring. He caught her staring when he whirled around after pressing the elevator call button and simply shot her a sexy, knowing grin, his eyes flashing devilishly. She could feel the thickness in the air as they stepped onto the elevator together.

“We can take my car if you’d like,” Charlie started, “or did you have one?”

“I’ve got a hire just out back if you’re comfortable with that,” Tom said. “I could bring you back to pick up your car later.” Charlie nodded.

They walked through the dark, narrow passage that led to the back door and just before they reached the much-brighter stairwell, he stopped beside her. “Wait.” He whispered. She halted just a step past him and turned back to him questioningly. He was blinking, eyes glinting in the dim hallway as he regarded her. He appeared calm, thoughtful, but she could hear his breath coming a little more heavily. “Charlotte, please don’t take this badly but before we get any further I…I’ll never be able to focus through dinner if I don’t…” She didn’t even have a moment to wonder what he was going to say before he’d stepped toward her and his warm lips were on hers, his fingers just barely caressing the skin of her cheeks.

She responded quickly, pressing herself into him with equal force and sweetness and he wasted no time in backing her up against the wall, a sly smile on his face as he continued to kiss her. Her hands clutched at his sides under his jacket, pulling his belly against hers; her head tilted back and resting against the wall to accommodate his affections. One of his hands shifted to wrap around her waist, the other now cradling her face as he laid gentle, delicious kisses on her mouth; the feel of his soft lips heady and intoxicating and his scruff tickling her delicate skin. When she slid one palm up to his shoulderblade beneath his jacket, he emitted a throaty sigh and pressed against her roughly for just one moment before backing off, finally slowing until his forehead simply rested against hers. Charlie didn’t dare move her hands. She wasn’t sure she wanted to move at all from where she was.

She shivered as his breath hit her lips when he whispered, “I’ve been dying to do that all day, Charlie.”

“I could say the same,” Charlie whispered, glossy eyes meeting his. He smiled, allowed a light chuckle and kissed her once more before giving her a gentle tug with the arm still around her waist, directing her beside him toward the back door. As they exited, he slid his arm from her waist to hold the door while she led the way to his car (well, what she assumed was his, as it was the only one left in the Guest Parking area). He opened the passenger side for her and she climbed in, the smell of leather overtaking her senses.

He slid into the driver’s side next to her. He turned the car on and sat for a moment before turning to her. “The only place I’ve been to in this city is Manny’s, and Prohibition. Are you up for Manny’s? Otherwise I’m completely open to your recommendation.”

Charlie chuckled. “Manny’s is fine with me. Staying in the Foshay, then?”

He gave her the sexiest grin as he looked at her out of the corner of his eye. “I am, indeed.” She tried to determine if she was imagining his suggestive tone. His eyes were on the road as he began to drive the ten blocks back to the hotel, GPS leading his way. The ride was quiet, though thankfully not awkward. They exchanged comments about people they saw as they drove past buildings, and since their kiss the air was not so thick between them, though it was still just as charged as before.

When they arrived at the W, he had the valet park his car and walked in beside her, his hand on the small of her back. She hated to admit it but she relished every moment this man was touching her.

She could feel the pull into a tempting, dangerous territory. Perhaps he didn’t feel that, and would save her from herself without even realizing it.


End file.
